Drought Fuels Moth Fears * Schuylkill County Hopes To Avert An Outbreak By Joining A Program To Identify `Ravenous' Insects.

July 29, 1999|by GERRY ULICNY (A free-lance story for The Morning Call).

With reports of gypsy moth infestations in Walker Township and western Schuylkill County, county commissioners are turning to the state for help in fighting the problem.

The caterpillars have ravenous eating habits that rapidly can destroy trees and foliage. Schuylkill and Carbon counties have been hit hard over the years because the region is a mountainous area of woodlands and forests. Bad infestations have occurred following severe droughts.

With the county and most of the state under a drought emergency, the commissioners are trying to ensure they can prevent a serious outbreak in the spring.

By joining the moth-control program, run by the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the county will get help sizing up the problem. The county also is planning to form a committee to examine the topic.

Commissioners Chairman Forrest L. Shadle said this is the first time since 1991 that Schuylkill County has had a problem with caterpillars, but said infestations tend to last three to five years, peaking in the third year.

Shadle said his office has received a number of calls about the insects and hopes to identify the extent of the problem this year so preventative measures can be taken in the spring.

"It's too late to do anything about it now, but hopefully we get the study and we can spray them next year," Shadle said. "From what I understand, there are a couple of hot spots and we want to find out the size and severity of the problem."

There have also been reports of the insects in Sacramento and Elizabethville in western Schuylkill County.

Spraying is generally restricted to forested residential and recreational areas.

According to statistics provided by the Weiser State Forestry District office in Schuylkill Haven, the worst infestation in the Schuylkill County area was in 1989 and 1990, when over 20,000 acres of land were defoliated.

Dauphin County is currently participating in the state program due to infestations.